Budget determines construction schedule

Q: Why did they wait until after U.S. 41 was done to repair the bridges at County GG and Y between Neenah and Oshkosh? Couldn't they have done that work at the same time so traffic was only disrupted once?

A: The Wisconsin Department of Transportation had planned to complete the bridge work at Winnebago County G, GG and Y in conjunction with the U.S. 41 mainline reconstruction in 2011 and 2012, but the $10.7 million needed for the projects wasn't allocated at that time.

Tom Buchholz, manager of the U.S. 41 project in Winnebago County, said transferring money to the bridge projects would have caused some other $10 million highway improvement to be delayed.

"There's not an endless pot of money to always do what's best," Buchholz said. "Sometimes you just have to wait."

After the 2011-12 construction window passed, the bridge projects were scheduled to start in 2014. However, additional money became available to start the work in 2013.

The contractor replaced the concrete deck and painted the steel girders on the County G bridge over U.S. 41 and the Canadian National railroad tracks last year. Crews now are replacing the County GG and Y bridges.

For access and traffic flow reasons, the DOT required the projects at County G and GG to be done in separate construction seasons.

Buchholz said the work at County GG and Yis scheduled for completion by the end of August.